Bloody Feathers
by Oceanbreeze7
Summary: Challenge:Vampire!Tony "Not that bad? Have you stood outside in the suns bright gaze and wished to actually feel it again. Don't you wish to ever feel your heartbeat, or enjoy the small foods that seem so insignificant until you can only taste metal and blood?" He asked, eyes full with some unspoken sorrow,"Never say that being a Vampire isn't that bad."


**Hey everyone! This is a challenge requested: _You know all of those Vampire and Werewolf fics out there? Can you make one with Tony?_**

**This is going to be _fun._**

**The length? I'm not exactly sure. I probably could have broken it into chapters, but it was specifically a Oneshot...a rather_ long_ oneshot.**

**Words: 18,000.**

**Don't say i didn't warn you. :)**

* * *

It seemed, in Tony's perspective, as time went on since the Battle of New York, attacks got just plain _weirder._

It was enough of a continuous event that the others had taken residence in his home, renaming it proudly the Avengers Tower.

Of course, there was a few let downs with that. Steve always cleaned up what Tony wanted messy. Thor broke what Tony wanted intact, Natasha and Clint stole and eventually broke what Tony wanted safe, and Bruce didn't ask for what Tony was completely ready to give him.

It was frustrating, but it created a small connectable community within the tower. Over the short few months they had interacted with each other, they had become closer then friends (not that they actually had something to compare friendship too- maybe Steve at the most).

Secrets were still kept between the group, but instead of personal borders, it was more like a…bubble, a bubble with guidelines on intruding.

Nobody _ever_ entered another's room. Nobody ate food with a name on it, or stole a specific thing from the other. Everyone had a TV, but always flocked together in the main living room, enjoying the comfort of each other in their odd little way.

It was 13 months of living together when Tony had the incident.

He was sent off on a small mission, some drug dealings in Romania. Nothing major, and he even joked to Steve about going south and maybe staying a few days in Venice before returning.

He found the home rather easily actually, Jarvis locking onto the roof and targeting a small area with his repulsors, firing and allowing the roof to explode outward.

He heard the shouts in Romanian as he landed, repulsors firing as the two desperate men fired their semi automatic guns at him, bullets reflecting off harmlessly.

"Nice try." He added, picking them up by their coats and throwing them into the wooden floor, which cracked under the strain.

He jumped down after, this time hearing more screams, or rather a young girls.

He turned, night vision activated while he located the two unconscious drug dealers. There, huddled in the corner was a little girl. It looked like her hair was black, however in the night vision it could be a brown similar to his.

"Kids? Really?" Tony cursed, adding a swift kick to one of the drug dealers, who gave a low moan at the harsh attack.

"Hey- sweetie? Come over here, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" Tony stated, flipping his faceplate open to appear less frightening as the girl trembled in the darkness.

"Jarvis, set flares to low. Light up this place." Tony mumbled, the flares illuminating the area while the girl turned, trembling again while pressing her head into her hands against the bright light.

"Hey- uh, Jar. Can you translate Romanian?" Tony grunted, hefting one of the two dealers up and onto the main floor, the other following soon after.

_"Certainly Sir. I am now translating."_

"Thanks- little girl? Can you come over here, I'll get you to the officials and then we can find your parents." He added, not sure what to do in the situation. Jarvis repeated it back in the language, and the girl sniffled something back.

_"Sir. The child answers: I don't like the sun." _

Tony cursed, looking over her frail looking body and her pale skin. "Her captors probably kept her in here for weeks, eyes must by hypersensitive. Tell her that I can take her to a station." Tony added, and the girl kept staring at him, not whimpering or trembling any more.

_"Sir, she states that she is only hungry. She only requires food and she is willing to walk to the station." _

"Aw- hell with that. I'll just take her and go. Tell Fury I got Beeves and Butt-head knocked out above. Tell him I'll be on my way back soon."

_"Of course Sir. Shall I mention the child?"_

"Eh, he doesn't need to know." Tony rolled his eyes, and started walking towards the girl.

She shrieked, jumping to her feet and already moving with surprising speed towards the exit, but Tony already had his arms around her and was blasting off.

She was struggling, twisting and _hissing_ in obvious fear, her efforts renewed when she saw how high up they were.

"Sh- stop it! Stop it or you might fall! Go- Jarvis! Get her to stop!" Tony yelped, eyes watering from flying without a face plate.

_"She understands, Sir. The nearest station is only one mile away. It should be within sight."_

"Yeah I see it- ouch!" He hissed, the girl having turned and grabbed his head, pulling it and yanking on the neck to try and let her go.

"Stop it you insane toddler!" Tony growled, and the girl glared again, this time instead of pushing away from him, she moved closer, grabbing his head with her small hands and _biting_ the skin just below and behind his ear, well out of normal sight.

"_Ow!_ Why you little- fine! Let the Romanian government deal with you!" Tony growled, beyond frustrated as he dropped the girl a safe distance of three feet onto the ground before blasting off, not paying attention to where she ran off too.

"Jarvis, remind me to _never_ pick up kidnapped toddlers _ever_ again." Tony groaned in frustration. That bite _hurt._

_"Sir, I believe that girl was around the age of eight or nine, not in the range of toddler or pre-child. Shall I keep note that you wish to never pick up a child with ages of birth to fourteen?"_

"Make it fifteen and we're good." Tony groaned, blinking as his vision swam slightly, the screen dimming before lightning up again.

_"Sir? Your flying and heartbeat is erratic. May I request we land?"_

"Yeah- tell Steve I'm taking up my offer of Venice." Tony grunted, lowering himself to the ground and his knees buckling once he hit it.

_"Already done Sir. Your coordinates match up with Western Hunga-"_

Tony's eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled into unconsciousness.

x-(X)-x

He was thrashing, he was probably screaming but he was unable to hear it himself, only faintly noticing how his vocal chords were working and how his mouth was open.

Jarvis might have been calling someone if it wasn't for the fact he had set up protocols saying that he could only call if Tony _demanded _it. No more behind his back calling- it had gotten him in enough trouble.

His breath was in raspy pants, spine arching in agony as he tried to stop the screams for a moment, eyes wide open and vision flashing in a disorienting array of colours.

Everything _hurt. _It was an aching bone throbbing burn that caused him to feel such agony. He knew logically it was probably something hurting or malfunctioning with his nerve receptors, but as for _what_, he had no idea.

He groaned, his face _ached. _He could almost imagine having being hit by Mjolnir, or being thrown around by the Hulk just a few seconds previously. He felt like someone had attached ropes to his ankles and were trying to pull his legs off of his body.

He didn't feel hot or sweaty. He actually felt cold if anything, a cold arctic chill which burned and numbed him.

That was it, he was _never_ going out on a mission alone. He'd tug Clint around in a Hot Air Balloon if he had to, just _makeitstopohGodi'mDying…_

He closed his eyes, a ragged sob breaking from his chest, one that came without his consent, causing him to thrash again. His toes curled and his hands turned to fists. At least it wasn't Cardiac Arrest; he'd had enough of that for a lifetime.

This- this was _worse._

Throughout that long existence of utter agony, he was sure he had begged Jarvis to kill him at some point or another.

x-(X)-x

He awoke with a low groan, mind foggy and he blinked. It took him a few seconds to realize he was staring at the inside of his suit, no power or lights.

He tried to move, at once the HUD lights illuminating and Jarvis breaking through the speaker.

_"Sir? Sir are you alright? Throughout the night your heartbeat increased to 140 beats per minute, your temperature fell to 96.5 and you suffered a fit of convulsions."_

"Yeah yeah-" Tony spoke, groaning as his throat felt raspy. He swallowed, making a face at the raw feeling it made, almost like he was swallowing little sand chunks or bits of his throat.

The faceplate lifted, and Tony blinked, looking around the well lit area.

"Uh- where are we?" Tony asked, rising and looking at the forest.

_"We are currently in Western Hungary. It is currently 5:23 AM."_

"Uh- no. It has to be mid-day Jar." Tony gave a low laugh, walking forward and looking around the well lit forest.

_"I have checked my code for errors. None are present; it is currently 5:23 AM. 31.5 minutes until dawn and so on."_

Tony stared. The tree was perfectly lit; he could see the difference in height on the raised bark, the small holes insects had made.

He froze- _there was no shadow._

"I- oh my god." He whispered, looking at his hand with the disturbing clarity.

_"Sir?"_

"Where's the nearest lake, ocean- I don't care." Tony snapped, and immediately took off in the desired direction.

It could hardly be called a lake, a large pond if anything. Tony landed, letting the suit retract as he dropped to his knees by the water.

He stared at his face, it was just as it always had been, except ever so slightly different. Only a difference he could tell because he had looked at it for everyday of his life. He had a tiny scar just below his lip- that was gone. His goatee was still in perfect condition, perhaps even better as he looked at the perfect formation. His eyes- gone were the old plain chocolate, and replaced was an odd mixture of a honey ring around his large expanded pupil as it morphed into the familiar colour.

He gasped, and he froze once more. He had a filling, his back left molar.

It was _gone._

His teeth were just as pristine white as before, teeth shaped fine but that miniscule cross bite was fixed. He jammed his fingers into his mouth, investigating the odd lack of the filling. He was drawing them out when he felt the odd lump on the top of his mouth. It wasn't overly noticeable except for the fact that this was _his mouth. _He _knew_ what his mouth felt like and those two hard lumps were _not_ there before.

He continued out, fingers moving over small points, he traced the odd tooth and cussed. His canine teeth weren't sharp before, and now there definitely _was_ a point.

He cursed, one hand running through his hair as a nervous tick, he hissed in pain as his head throbbed. He sent one hand back to the pulsating spot, it burned at the touch and he pulled it away, staring at it in slight horror as it came back with a clear pink bloody liquid.

"Crap- Jarvis? What day is it?"

_"It is the 14th, Sir."_

Tony stared, voice wavering as he spoke again.

"…I was sent to Romania on the 5th Jar. That was 9 _days_ ago." He spoke, and Jarvis wasted no time answering back.

_"Correct Sir."_

He paused, kneeling on the pond side and ignoring the pesky Hungarian (Hungry- ha ha) mosquito's that buzzed around him but oddly enough, refused to bite him.

He sat there for hours as he listened to the loud frogs that stared at him with their oddly slit eyes. He glared back at them, frowning as one ribbeted loudly at him before jumping into the mud-puddle of a pond.

He sighed and blinked, squinting his eyes slightly as the area seemed much more bright- almost painfully so.

"Jarvis, when was the sun coming up?" He asked quietly, and his helmet responded from a few feet away.

_"In two minutes and forty seconds." _Jarvis reported automatically, and Tony squinted at the sun breaking over the tree-tops.

He looked away at once, pain flaring in his head as the bright burning light was too bright for his brain to handle. He made his way to his feet, not even trying to wipe the mud off of his suit pant legs.

"Has anybody asked about me?" His voice was dull as he briefly brushed a finger against the puffy and pulsating wound on his neck.

_"The others have been led to believe that you are currently on vacation in Venice Italy. Sir, Director Fury has asked that you 'Get your behind back to a location in which communication is not so stressful.'"_

"Sugarcoating it, eh?" Tony groaned, moving once on his feet and walking towards his folded suit.

_"Always, Sir. Have you come to a conclusion as to where you shall go?"_

"Yeah." Tony grunted, the suit attaching to his legs and working its way up his torso, "I think Venice. I could buy a cheap mask there and give myself an alibi." He sighed, relaxing when the face plate slid over, automatically diming the bright sun and sunlight.

_"An alibi? Do you not wish for SHIELD nor the other Avengers to be aware of this sudden illness?"_

"No." Tony blurted, frowning as the odd bite from the girl pulsed with pain sharply, "I have a feeling SHIELD would like having a new lab rat- we don't talk about it. Lock it away, in my private folders as well as add an encryption. Make it have twelve firewalls, make the pass codes and bypass from easy to hardest- give any hackers a rough time." Tony grunted and Jarvis let the action be shown on screen.

"Alright- Thrusters activate. Get me to Venice."

Venice was nice, the golden plated buildings and the beautiful spire churches. The water Taxi's were just as dirty looking and the Shuttle 'bus's' were just as jammed full and sweaty under the Italian sun.

Tony just ordered one of the boats for sale on the canals and navigated the green algae infested water himself.

He had bought himself the best hotel room in all of Venice, and spent a few minutes every day investigating the red inflamed skin that showed the two perfectly distanced puncture marks. Instead of a full set of teeth (like he had been expecting) there were two small puncture wounds that looked more similar to two spider bites, or a lucky snake.

He had ignored it mostly; if he brushed his hair back it lay nicely over and hid the wound from view.

He was in denial about the odd things that were happening, how sunlight burned his eyes (although, he was _sure_ he would have noticed if he had gained a case of photophobia), or how he was now able to lift more and move at a much faster speed.

At this point, he guessed his strength could rival Steve, as for _how_, he had no idea.

He was of course entirely in denial while all of the odd supernatural things were occurring.

He _finally_ admitted that something was wrong when he awoke in his bed one morning, trying to stretch only to feel his joints move oddly and _completely wrong._

Then he's on the ground squawking and trying to right side himself as a pile of black feathers.

Tony was confused; he was confused as to _how_ his arms had been replaced with hollow black feathered wings and why he currently had a sharp beak instead of his actual lips and mouth.

It took him a few moments to calm down enough to actually savor the moment- when else would he ever be a freakin' _bird_ again?

(He suspected Thor's insane brother for the weird mumbo jumbo, but after having no sign of him for quite a while, his hopes were growing dim.)

It only took him a good ten minutes until he was awkwardly flying in the air above the canals and the tourists. The sun was still painfully bright, but it was more bearable when he could just look away with his superior avian vision.

(He was a dirty crow, and his eyes were better than Clint's. Never thought he'd be the one to brag.)

He flapped, both enjoying the experienced and being terrified beyond belief. He spotted a railing on one of the dried up wells near a cannal, diving down he slammed into the railing with one of his wings, clipping it as he spiraled into the ground, squawking like a mad chicken as he collided with the stone ground.

He heard a sharp raspy laugh which caused him to yank his head around, eyes widening as he spotted three more mangy looking birds sitting on a rusted catholic symbol sticking out of a roof on a nearby house.

"Ey Arc! Look 'ere!" The mangy one on the left cawed, shifting its feathers while its gaze focused on him, its one lazy eye looking up at the sky.

"Shut it Brig! It's jus' 'nother one of those birds." The crow on the right cawed back, the larger more intimidating one in the middle just stared at Tony, causing him to shifted awkwardly as the two intelligence challenged crows bickered.

"Both of you, _silence."_ The lead crow growled, and the two lackeys fell silent, looking down shamefully at their scaly feet.

Tony laughed, he couldn't help it. The entire thing was too surreal with the small flare of Disney Magic- two idiots and the evil mastermind? It seemed _too_ familiar.

"Oh? And who might you be newcomer?" The main crow asked, yellow eyes narrowing as its voice was impossibly deep and slightly unnerving.

"Uh- I'm not going to say, because I think I'm insane because I'm talking to a group of crows." Tony practically chirped.

"A murder! We're called a _murder_ of crows!" The insane one on the left cawed, only one eye looking at Tony.

"Silence!" The main crow snapped to the other, slamming it with its beak as it turned its eyes to Tony again, "A Newblood, then."

Tony snapped his head up, looking at the main crow as he attempted to walk forward, tail feathers bobbing awkwardly and in every way he hated as his nails clicked on the stone.

"Oh! A fledgling! Can we keep him! Please?" The one on the right begged and Tony recoiled, a feeling of dread slowly increasing.

"A…fledgling? What the hell- what kind of messed up dream is this?" He squawked, flapping his wings and hopping away as the leader eyed him.

The two others cackled madly and in amusement, a sharp hiss from the leader made them draw silent.

"Very new then. My name is Ambrose, and _you_ are a fledgling." The crow informed, hopping down and landing easily with a flare of his wings.

Tony stared at the bird, which circled him. He definitely couldn't play this off as a giant hallucination, mostly because the bird was _talking _to him.

"So, fledgling, what is your name?" the crow, Ambrose, cooed. His yellow eyes observing Tony and making him generally wary.

"It's Tony, and stop calling me fledgling! I'm not a freaking bi- I'm not _normally _a bird!" Tony clarified with a scowl, causing Ambrose to blink and tilt his head.

"Well of _course_ you're not a bird normally. This is just a form, particularly your avian form, no matter how common it is." The crow sighed, shaking his head almost mournfully while Tony took a few steps back.

"Wait- you're _not_ normally a bird?"

"No." The avian snapped back, fluffing his feathers in annoyance, "My clan was upset with one of my recent hunts; I took a kill where it belonged to another coven- how was _I_ supposed to know he was already marked?" The bird huffed and Tony blinked, getting more and more confused.

"I- wait, _coven?_ What the _hell_ is going on here?" He almost shrieked and the bird blinked confused and startled.

"Just _how new_ are you?" It murmured, and Tony almost swatted him with his wing from annoyance.

"_You,_ are a fledgling. A darkness child." The bird clarified and Tony stared, the bird shifting with annoyance.

"No? The _Ramanga?_" The bird tried again, the odd name sounding exotic and somewhat…something shouting..._Madagascar_.

"Obviously not- Loogaroo? Puechen? Tagalog? A Leyak? Does your religion know none of these titles?" The bird snapped in annoyance, and Tony nearly swatted him again.

"What of a Chupacabra?" The bird tried again, and Tony's head snapped up in recognition.

"That one! That's the goat killing Marmot thing in Mexico- right?" Tony blinked and the bird looked at him dumbly.

"You are from the _colonies?_ Ah- I should have recognized your accent. Perhaps you know the term, _Vampyre?"_ It tried once again and Tony froze.

The bird looked at him, and if possible, it grinned.

x-(X)-x

There was a plethora of things Tony had yet to learn from Ambrose.

Ambrose had told him the basics, most of which Tony had refused to accept, eventually causing Ambrose to revert forms back to a forty year old black haired man with blue iris' just barely showing behind the gigantic pupil.

_Then,_ Tony started accepting the facts.

Ambrose had explained a few things to him- the transformation occurred when venom from another vampire was pumped into him. The venom was only created when a vampire was attempting to change another, or as a defense system if one was in a panicking situation.

The transformation was painful, and normally the memory was blocked for a reason. It took an amount of days to fully work, which explained the time lapse of Tony waking up in Hungary.

Sometimes (30 % of the vampire population) a vampire could 'inherit' some form of an extra gift from its 'parent' or original attacker. Ambrose had lived a long time ago, during the Renaissance era and was attacked by a particularly blood-starved vampire. She had a short teleportation gift in which he inherited (Not really teleportation, more of a slowing of the fourth dimension that allowed the user to continue moving which appeared like teleportation, something that military jets were also obtaining once breaking a few barriers). He didn't like using it, apparently the last time he had he teleported himself into a bonfire. He swore he'd never use it again.

Tony was slightly disgruntled the vampire that had attacked him was nobody.

Ambrose's two lackeys were two fools that had been corrupted in the changing process, similar to a genetic mutation or a disorder when an embryo was developing. It wasn't common, but it was known to happen often to a change in the weak hearted- one used to be a truck driver while the other was a self sustaining farmer in Egypt. They were both incidents on Ambrose's part, so he was the one that took them up, no matter how damaged they were.

It disturbed Tony more than it should- he was talking to a _killer. _An immortal powerful time-stopping killer.

Then again, _why_ was he with those other two?

"…The bloodlust, you kill for it?" Tony asked, voice flat as he sat on one of the metal spires that decorated a catholic cathedral

"You don't have to." Ambrose responded in his regal voice, eyes watching a few tourists take photos of the spire they both say on.

Tony looked at him in surprise, and Ambrose's eyes wandered over the ground below.

"The bloodlust isn't for a life. A liter is enough to sustain you, to refresh the blood of yourself that has sunk into your muscles and get it circulating again. It takes two to kill a mortal, and five are inside a human. You could drain an animal dry, but it never really…_satisfies."_ The crow seemed to give a shiver, and Tony looked at him with a sorrowful look.

"And those two?" Tony nodded toward the two other crows, which currently were trying to knock each other into an old mossy fountain.

"They were my…_accidents._" Ambrose winced, looking away, "As a newblood, I wasn't used to the new sensation. I drained them both dry, and had no choice but to bite them." Ambrose sighed, and Tony winced slightly.

"Of course, there's a trick with the bloodlust." Ambrose smirked, looking at Tony who didn't want to hear.

"If you drink while in a smaller form- this avian one. Your mind process much more then there actually is. You can't kill one if you are winged, that's why much more of us are in our avian form then not. Of course, other covens prefer other forms, there is a coven in Africa that prefers their serpentis form, a terrifying thought actually. Then there is Quetzl, who uses his canine form in South America. You may know him as Chupacabra." Ambrose shrugged while Tony felt slightly dizzy.

"You mean…there are more than just birds?" He asked, swaying slightly while Ambrose laughed.

"Of course. Your forms depend on the climate and country you prefer the most, it helps to blend it. You have an avian form, your air transportation. Most of us are crows, although _some_ in Africa have the legendary Vampire bat." The crow's tone turned to disgust. "They _ruined_ our image. Anyways, you have your predatory form, your water form, your Earth form, and of course, your hiding form. Because of recent events and so on, most vampires have either a Canine or Feline form. I myself possess a Feline form due to all of the feral cats in Italy." The crow snorted, and Tony just stared.

"…Crap, that's a lot of vampires." He grunted, and Ambrose shrieked a laugh.

"Oh Tony! You have _no_ idea." Ambrose laughed, jumping from the spire and flaring his wings flapping into the air and floating on a current. Tony followed, having used sudden appearing instincts to circle with Ambrose. Not very surprising, but once he had gotten used to the bird wings and feathers (not to mention the fact his _heart wasn't beating, _it wasn't actually so bad.)

"So I have like, five other bodies?" Tony called over the wind, and Ambrose shrugged, flapping again.

"Correct- but first. You're locking." He called, and Tony frowned, tilting his head confusedly.

"Locking- stiffening. It's what happens when you don't drink. It doesn't…hurt, per say. Your blood stiffens and hardens in your muscles, you simply…lock up. Paralyzed and stay there. Mortals think you're dead, they bury or cremate you and…_gone._" Ambrose sighed; Tony missed a beat of his wings and plummeted a few feet before catching himself.

"_What?_ Just like that?" Tony squawked, and Ambrose winced, causing Tony to curse under his breath.

"But _hey-_ you only need to drink once every two weeks." He called over, and Tony groaned, spiraling into a dive and pulling up.

_"Only?_"

"It's not that bad." Ambrose sympathized, turning with Tony following, "Here- _I'll show you."_

_x-(X)-x_

Ambrose had found their target, some homeless man sleeping in an alley next to a canal narrow for only a gondola to go down. They circled, and Tony felt a growing sense of worry rising in his gut.

"I'll knock him out- our saliva has sedative properties." Ambrose stated easily, swooping down before landing on a railing next to the man who jumped in surprise.

_"Eh- get away from me you ruddy bird!"_ The man growled, voice sounding different to Tony's ears.

"Why does he sound-"

"We're speaking Vampyre. When in any of your other forms, you can listen to any language and understand it. This is Italian." Ambrose nodded, before lunging at the man brutally.

The man cursed, trying to knock the bird away but he stiffened, giving a groan before collapsing, a small cut on his shoulder from where Ambrose had clipped his beak on the man.

Ambrose hopped away, feathers shifting as he grew, the black vanishing like smoke leaving him in pale skin, huge pupils and the ridiculous baggy tunic and the grey unbuttoned overcoat.

Tony followed after the former, fluttering to the ground and shifting back in a much more awkward fashion. The feathers sticking before falling out in heavy clumps which dissipated into the smoke.

He winced, rolling his shoulders in his black suit as he looked at the passed out homeless man, wrinkling his nose at the putrid smell.

"Now, it isn't _that _bad." Ambrose huffed with a roll of his eyes, and Tony lifted an eyebrow, looking at the man.

"Come on- go ahead. I can stop you if I need to." Ambrose offered, and Tony shifted awkwardly while he just looked at him.

"Yeah, uh, about that-"Tony stiffened, having inhaled through his nose after breathing through his mouth as a bird.

The smell was...Weird, it wasn't sickly sweet nor was it bitter. It was similar to just inhaling a candle, the faint smell but not overpowering.

"What?" Ambrose blinked, before his eyes lit up and he gave a small grin, stepping back and waiting.

The smell was similar to a metallic undertone- the smell on Tony's hands after he had just used Iron in one of his projects. It also smelled like a hospital, the blood smell Tony had expected. There was a…dirty, edge to it, probably because of all the crap the guy had in his blood.

"Yeah, uhh…won't all of that cholesterol crap hurt me or something?" Tony asked awkwardly, and Ambrose shrugged.

"Your stomach acids will dissolve everything that is not needed, that includes any food you eat. It helps when trying to hide in public." Ambrose added, and nudged the guy with his foot, causing Tony to hesitate again.

"But-"

"Oh for god's sake- just bite him." Ambrose groaned in annoyance, causing Tony to recoil in surprise before wincing.

"But, how? Do I just like…_bite him?"_ Tony winced and looked unsure at the man.

"Tony." Ambrose sighed, causing him to look at him. "Repeat this to yourself- 'I'm going to drink this man.'" Ambrose finished. Tony looked at him, lips twitching in partial amusement at how dirty he could make that sound-

"Fine, I'm going to drink this man, happy?" Tony snapped, and Ambrose lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

Tony looked back at the man. He didn't really _want to_, but yet again…he didn't want to stiffen up and die like how Ambrose explained…it was time, he really _did_ have to drink this man's blood.

He felt something odd in his mouth, and froze when he felt his canine teeth almost _turn,_ sliding out further and the hard bumps at the top of his mouth flattening out while his canines turned into proper fangs. Long, thin and needlelike.

"Okay- this…is weird." Tony added, not being able to fully close his jaw because of the tooth extensions.

"Good, your fangs are out. They only come out when you need them, not all the time." Ambrose added, leaning against a wall. Tony squatted, looking at the man and lifting one of his arms, wrinkling his nose at the sweat that had dried on them.

"Okay- uh…here I go?" Tony asked, voice rising at the end while he hesitantly bit.

The fangs pierced easily while his normal teeth just pressed bluntly on the skin, blood didn't pool in his mouth like he had expected, instead his fangs just pierced, and he tried doing a sucking motion, tensing his mouth as the needle like add on's did their job, the blood moving past some sort of new pleasure nerve bundles causing his mouth to _water_ at the taste.

_Holy-thattastesreallyREALLYgood-_

"Tony- enough." Ambrose warned, moving towards Tony who didn't halt in the slightest, feeling the need to get _more-_

A hand grabbed his head, yanking him away as a voice barked loudly in his ear, "I said _enough!"_

He turned, giving a hiss as he tried to bite whoever had grabbed him, only to have a hard punch in his ribs, knocking the air out of him.

He wheezed, blinking as he noticed Ambrose above him, watching warily while his own fangs were extended, back tensed an obviously ready to fight.

"I-" Tony gasped, looking back to the sprawled out man on the ground, two small puncture wounds on his wrist, easily mistakable for a dog bite.

"He's fine. Not too much was taken- now do you realize the bloodlust?" Ambrose asked voice calm and flat while Tony gave a slightly shaky nod.

He was in deep crap.

x-(X)-x

Tony was in his hotel room, Ambrose squatting in his windowsill while Tony ranted in his phone.

"No! I'm on vacation- oh shut up! Look Fury, get someone else to do it…Yes, I know I've been gone two weeks! I'm relaxing, you should try it sometime! Tell the children that I'm not ready to come back, okay? I did what you wanted, I caught the two drug dealers and now I'm on break…What? No! You can't just do that? I- fine." Tony snapped, closing the phone connection with a curse as he looked back at Ambrose with a sad smile.

"Work." Tony explained awkwardly and Ambrose nodded.

"Of course, I understand. It's not past your life expectancy, you still have connections. I'd _love_ to keep in touch, but we'll meet again. Most of us do." He gave a grin, and Tony returned it slightly while he looked out at the two rather stunned crows nearly running into buildings.

"Hey- if you're ever in America, give me a call. Tony Stark- you can't miss it. Really popular over there- actually over everywhere." He shuffled, and Ambrose snorted.

"There's the arrogance. Enjoy yourself, Tony Stark. I will be in Venice for a while longer, it's peaceful and no Coven has moved in for a while. Watch your back if you cross with a bad Coven, they're territorial." Ambrose warned with a wink before he turned, exploding in smoke before it compacted into a crow. He turned, looking at the window but Tony couldn't just let him _leave._

"Wait!" He burst out, blinking in surprise as he didn't even realize he had said that until Ambrose turned one questioning eye towards him.

"I- thank you." Tony awkwardly shifted, not exactly sure what to say. "It's…weird. Waking up after a mission and finding out you're a vampire. But you know…It's not really that bad." He smiled and Ambrose's eyes narrowed as he let out a sad sigh.

_"Not that bad? We live forever. Have you yet watched your lover and your friends wither to dust as you remain pristine in perfection? Have you stood outside in the suns bright gaze and wished to actually feel it again, or feel the breathlessness and the blood pumping below your skin in excitement? Don't you wish to ever feel your heartbeat, or enjoy the small foods that seem so insignificant until you can only taste metal and blood?" _He asked, eyes full with some unspoken sorrow, _"Never say that being a Vampire isn't that bad."_

He turned, jumping out the window while two others quickly followed as they swooped down by a bridge, and beyond his view.

Tony sighed as he grabbed a few things he had bought locally and stored them in a hefty suitcase, secured with duct tape as he let Jarvis build the suit over him again, blinking as the visor came over his view, and walked towards the window.

Tourists on the Rialto Bridge gasped and flashed photos worthy of a post card as he flew across the water, waving at a few stunned gondolas before blasting up into the air in the direction of America.

He had a long ways to go.

A few hours later he saw the coast of America, zooming over it while he got an small connection with the military- once they cleared him he continued on, spotting the Avenger Tower in the distance.

_"Stark!" _He heard from Fury and he groaned, "What?"

_"You're late." _Fury growled, and for a moment Tony wondered if _he_ was a vampire.

"Hey- it's hard to fly across an ocean in under two hours." Tony snarked back, landing on a platform and letting the armor disassemble.

He walked in, still on a connection through the house, ignoring Clint who sat up from his spot on the couch.

_"Knowing you, you could have gotten here in one."_

_True, "_Hey, it's not every day I can built a jet powered me, bye." Tony shrugged the link disconnecting as he moved towards the kitchen.

"Stark!" Clint cried, partially in excitement as he grew a grin, walking towards Tony.

This, was what he was dreading.

"Hey Legolas, miss me?" Tony grinned, turning around while Clint snorted.

"Nobody else to make fun of, how was your vacation?" He asked, wriggling his eyebrows while Tony gave a light shrug.

"It was Venice, not some topless beach in Spain." He grinned while Clint gave a snort.

If Clint fell for it, everybody else would too.

x-(X)-x

_(Four Months Later)_

Tony was a Child of the Night. He was a Predator of Darkness. He, was a Vampire.

There were times when he loved it, when he was soaring through the skies feeling the wind in his feathers. That moment of freedom that came when he flew with his faceplate up with only half the danger. Nobody ever cared about a lowly crow; the crow could do whatever it wanted.

There were times he hated it. He forgot to drink one time, and when he was in his lab, suddenly he couldn't _move his fingers._ They locked up on him like they were never meant to move, and he well…he panicked.

It was bloody, and it was accidental. He had nearly killed that prostitute in his desperate need, but only eight times had he been forced to drink blood. It didn't bother him anymore; the pros had outweighed the cons long ago.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, summer. It was nice actually; the sun had vanished behind the clouds and took the buzzing brightness with it.

The Avengers were being lazy, sprawled out on a few couches while Natasha and Clint surfed, finding old reruns of comedy shows and a few new episodes on things nobody wanted to watch. Daytime television sucked.

_"Sir, a call from Director Fury."_

"Put him through, maybe if we're lucky we can go kick somebody's butt." Tony groaned, allowing the call through.

_"Avengers. This normally isn't our league, however…we've found something odd. Something you might want to watch out for."_

"What is it?" Steve asked, eyebrows lifting as he looked up from his drawing.

_"A corpse. Found floating in the ocean washed up. We got a hold of it before the homicide department. You'll get a kick out of this; it was killed less than 24 hours ago, by the marks of a lion."_

"Wait- a _lion?_ Like, 'rawr I'm a freaking lion' lion?" Clint asked, hand moving to a knife he always had on him.

_"Yes Agent Barton, a lion. We ran traces of blood through, found a drug called M99, also known as Etorphine in it. It's a tranquilizer for large game animals. Keep your eyes open for a wild lion, agent."_

"Sure, we can catch a lion. I mean, how hard could it be? Certainly better then Honey Boo Boo." Tony groaned, getting up from the couch before looking outside.

"Avengers, assemble." Natasha muttered, getting up and moving lazily towards her room, probably to grab her guns.

"I'll take downtown and the harbor. I'll call you if I find Simba." Tony called over his shoulder, suiting up and blasting away through the rain.

He normally didn't fly in rain, he didn't like getting wet that often, and the fact he didn't create and body odor was fine by him.

He landed on the docks of the harbor, apparently where the report had of the corpse.

He landed, looking around and letting Jarvis scan for any nearby humans or security cameras.

"Okay, Jarvis, detach but put on audio if anybody contacts." Tony ordered, and Jarvis obeyed without question. He stepped out of the suit, looking around and sighed, crouching as he exhaled slowly and shifted forward.

Tony possessed a canine form, probably from all of the strays in the country. He shook his fur, black, and approached the beach. Sniffing the ground as he hurried along, trying to find the 'lions' scent.

His canine form was a German Shepherd. Pure black and missing the signature tan on his legs and chest. Like all of his vampiric forms, he was scrawny and thin, ribcage visible while his eyes were nearly entirely black, excluding the white ring in his eyes. Even in this form, he could summon the fangs, which was a bit odd in his mind.

He moved along the shore, sniffing and searching for the scent. Thankfully, the scent of a vampire was potent enough that the rain hadn't washed it away.

It _definitely _was a vampire.

It was just as he recognized from a few other vampires he encountered on his crow trips. He had met one in Malibu, just stopping by on her trip up to Alaska, her Orca sea form was rather graceful, and allowed them to have a rather nice conversation. Her scent was just like the other Vampires, it was a metallic smell that was also sickly sweet. Tony had tested the smell- it was the smell of decomposition, not horrible but unnerving enough.

He sniffed, tracing the smell down off the beach and further still, until it changed and hung in the air heavily.

Tony growled and shifted, stretching his fingers out to get rid of the weird flexing feeling of changing, and looked up in the air, squinting against the rain.

_"Sir, a link has been formed."_ Jarvis called over the speakers, causing Tony to walk back and suit up, connecting.

"Hey guys, nothing on this end. You?" He asked, looking around and scanning the skies, knowing the vampire that did it was long gone.

_"Nothing on the East side."_

_"Nothing up North except a hell load of shipping boxes an- shit! Sorry Ma'am!" _ Clint apologized as some muffled shouting was heard.

_"Nice one, idiot. Nothing West but houses."_

_"South is blank, as usual. I don't think a lion would be hiding on a few fishing boats." _Bruce sighed, and Tony blasted into the sky, scanning.

"Yeah, not really expecting to find a lion. It should be long gone by now." Tony added with a small hum, scanning the air and locking onto every single breathing animal around him, just to check.

_"True. Finish your rounds and head back. Think you can investigate on the murder?"_

"What are we? CSI?" Tony muttered turning and heading back. He shot above the buildings as a red and gold blur in the grey clouds, causing everything to appear monotone.

He landed, obviously before anybody else and the suit was deconstructed, moving under the platform while Tony looked around from the height, trying to see if anything was possibly out there.

"Hey- I'm going to go out at street level, there are a few places where the sky view is blocked." Tony stated to the open feed.

_"You sure? It could be dangerous."_

"Yeah well- I'll take a suit with me." Tony shrugged, slipping open the door and closing it to the porch, grasping a railing and precariously balancing on it while he looked around.

He jumped, exploding in smoke only to appear out of the bottom of the cloud as a diving crow, something not as mesmerizing as his old Italian friends, but still impressive.

He soared, flying on a small thermal while he ignored the chill from the rain. Most birds tended to stay out of the rain, hopefully it wouldn't change anything too much if he was out.

After a few minutes of soaring did he see the beach where he originally found the scent, he turned. Landing on the top of a nearby parking garage to shift his forms again and sniff. He turned, following the trail as it led to another building.

This continued for almost eight buildings before the rain washed away the scent too badly, causing him to revert to the crow with an annoyed feeling, taking time instead to start shouting out loudly, of course mortals would hear it as a crow's call instead.

"Where are you! Child of the Night! I know you are there!" He shouted as loud as he could, occasionally drifting to a new area to soar over.

He knew by the end of his hour excursion the vampire had heard him, and chosen not to respond instead. Just his luck, he flew home with nothing.

x-(X)-x

"There's another one."

They looked up as Fury slapped a file on the table, sliding it to Steve who opened it, flinched, and looked away quickly.

Clint took it instead, opening the file and eyes widening in surprise as he saw the photo inside, probably of the corpse.

"Same tranquilizer used. These wounds were classified now as a Shark Attack, same beach." Fury nodded, and finally the file slid to Tony.

The man was brutally mauled, bites _everywhere_ on his body. He was missing one leg, and his head was nearly severed.

Whoever was doing this, was doing it _perfect_, in exception to the natural sedative in their teeth.

"Dang, so we still have a lion on the loose, and now an insane man throwing people to sharks?" Tony gave a fake wince while Natasha rolled her eyes.

"More likely some zookeeper trying to make life more exciting." Bruce added, using his glasses to see the picture better.

"Is there any zoo in New York that even _has_ a Great White Shark exibit?" Natasha asked, reading the type of shark that inflicted the damage.

"No. And that's the problem." Fury snapped, causing everyone to look at him again.

"As of now, I'm classifying this as a mutant attack." He stated, and Steve lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

"Isn't it a bit…early? This is unexpected to just blame this as a mutat." He winced, and Tony mentally applauded him for trying.

"It's not to early and I think it is. As of now, we have two murderers, possibly serial killers."

A few weeks went on, and eventually the murders escalated. The Police were on the edge, and the Nation was alerted.

Nobody ironically blamed the Avengers, instead they blamed the police in New York (Something Steve was upset about).

It took a while until people started getting unnerved by mutants, causing the fatality of mutants to increase…dramatically.

Tony himself felt slightly guilty, as he perched on the roof of the bad downtown of Manhatten, eyeing some robber who was looking at his next and more impressive steal.

Just as Tony was prepared to lunge, a flash of black and the man cursing caused Tony to pause, and watch with a lifted eyebrow.

A vulcher, huge and black as tearing brutally at the man. It landed, and changed into a young African woman, who snarled at the passed out man.

Almost synchronized, four more vulchers landed, shifting back into varying genders of the same African ancestry, each biting the man until he was obviously drained clean.

The five started bickering over the body, one hissing as he paused in a partial viper transformation, the other hissing like a crocodile.

"Enough." The young female said, and instantly everyone obeyed, looking at her in a form of respect.

"We dispose of the body in the ocean, as before. The salt will remove all essence and scent of us." She commanded, and the fittest of the males hefted the corpse on his back.

"As much as the attempt is tried, it's still obvious a vampire did it." Tony called from the roof, causing them to look up with a gasp.

"Venom has the same properties as a tranquilizer. I'll know every bite." Tony added, lifting his chin in arrogance.

"Fool! Do you _want_ us to rip you to shreds?" One of the males barked, but the lead female just looked up at him with a small grin.

"Don't you know not to mess with a coven?" She asked, lifting a perfectly sculpted eyebrow as he jumped down, flaring wings before vanishing them as he stood in front of them.

"Don't you know not to intrude on claimed territory?" He asked back, and she grinned, flashing her fangs.

"Oh, this is _claimed_ land? Our mistake. We won't be moving on." She hummed, leaning against a wall completely relaxed while Tony narrowed his eyes.

"You sure about that? I have your scent; I can track your little indigenous tribe down anytime I feel like it." He threatened, and the girl laughed.

"Track us? Is that why you were flying above and calling our names?" She laughed, and gave a grin, one full of fang, "I don't think so. See, I _like_ this country. In Africa there are too little people, but here…_"_ She looked at the corpse, "There's so many there are not enough houses!"

Tony narrowed his eyes, and crossed his arms. "You keep this up; you'll expose us, Vampire."

"If we go down, so do you." She threw back, and Tony glared, eyes narrowing as they both held their ground.

"The name's Tony Stark. If I see your fangs anywhere _near_ my people again, you're flesh is on _fire."_ He exposed his own fangs this time before turning and morphing into the crow again to head off to find a new hobo to bite.

Two weeks later, the attacks were still going. This time, the bodies weren't even being moved to the ocean, instead they were left in whatever alley or whichever place they were killed in.

Curfews were being established on Manhattan Island, to help control the attacking of these odd creatures.

It was only a short while later when Thor returned.

It was a large flash of light and suddenly, the God of Thunder stood on the top of Stark Tower.

He was welcomed inside, and after only a few hours of joy and laughing was he informed of the killings.

Thor was confused, but once informed and Jarvis projected holographic images of each murder victim, did he look not nearly so.

He looked at Steve and said very calmly, "It seems you have a Draugr issue."

At once he was rushed to Fury, who easily pried from Thor all of the information about the recent threat. Thor and Loki (When he wasn't as insane) had visited many realms, even encountering the land of the Draugrs, and was easily able to give a description.

They lived as long as the Aesir did immortal in the Mortal's eye. They had long teeth, the fangs of a dragon coated in a venom that could put one to sleep, but could also infect one into the undead like them. They had different forms, a shapeshifter as Thor called them, to help them survive in different climates.

As soon as Thor had said what they were up against did Fury alert the council and finally send word to the press.

It was official; the Children of the Night were being hunted.

It was saddening actually, almost three years after Tony's turning and already he was being hunted, he didn't know what to do, he _needed help._

He told the others he was going to see if other countries had the same pandemic, and if they had discovered any weaknesses. Of course, he wasn't _actually_ going to do that.

A few hours later he was flying as a crow above the canals of Venice, shouting awkwardly out loud 'Ambrose! Ambrose I need you!'

Only two hours of searching did a scrawny bony cat jump on top of a roof, watching him before summoning a cat-like grin and bounding over, tail straight in happiness.

"Ah! Tony! A pleasure to see your feathery backside again!" he laughed, almost right after did two similar looking cats trot over, both looking somewhat drunk.

"Nice to see you too Ambrose. You watch the news?" Tony asked, changing back to his normal form, just as Ambrose did the same. His two lackeys did not, they preferred not having thumbs.

"I do indeed. A massive Vampire man hunt? Why do I feel that _you're_ involved?" Ambrose teased and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Hah ha, it's a coven from Africa. Annoying as hell actually, there's about five of them, the leaders some girl. Anyways, have the other countries heard of the Vampires yet?"

Ambrose gave a twitch and a frown, curling his hands into fists. "Indeed. They're issuing precautions. They're wearing garlic, although not poisonous-"

"Smells god awful." They finished at the same time, giving a little chuckle as they looked over the quiet canals.

"Come back to the States with me, there's enough hobo's to feed everyone. Nobody will find you if I hide you." Tony tempted, and Ambrose snorted, shaking his head.

"Tony, those are the _States._ Did you _see_ what they did to those witches?" He sighed, and Tony looked at him deadpan.

"Uh, no. I wasn't born yet. _Please_, we have a coven in _my town._ I _need help." _Tony sighed, and Ambrose stared, not moving after a few seconds.

"…Fine." He stated, causing Tony to look at him in surprise.

"What?"

"Fine, okay. I'll go amico, it means a lot to you. I have nothing here in Italia, the States I shall try." Ambrose offered a small smile and Tony grinned.

"Yes! Great- Molto Bene!" He grinned and Ambrose shook his head in dismay.

"No- just….leave the Italiano to me."

They landed in the States quickly once he had bribed the pilot. Then he walked off, unseen three scrawny bony black mice were in his pant leg.

He returned to the tower with the three mice scuttling off to his personal floor. He contacted Fury and told him the basics on what the other Countries were thinking with the information and hurried to his room, blaming jetlag.

He opened the window, signaling to Ambrose that he was allowed free, to do all that he wanted.

The three crows soared out the window, escaping into the air while Tony chuckled after, closing the window slightly.

x-(X)-x

Only a few days after Ambrose's arrival did Fury get a new hit- a security camera near a bank caught the video of an African Male turning into a Jaguar, and ripping out the throat of a woman, draining her dry before turning into a vulcher and vanishing into the sky.

The others had watched in stunned silence as the male hissed, exposing the fangs then freaking _ripping her face off-_

It was brutal, but the worst part was; now they had a _description._

"Their eyes are huge, pupils are dilated."Bruce murmured, and took note. He also noted the smoky like way how they changed forms.

"I'm guessing they don't actually sleep in coffins?" Clint muttered while Thor managed a confused look.

"Sleep in funeral shrouds? These Midgardian myths are becoming more and more a fools tale." Thor chuckled and Clint looked slightly sheepish while Tony just watched the one male, he recognized him from before.

"Fury, mind if I take a copy and do a face scan?" Tony asked halfheartedly while Fury rolled his one eye.

"You'd do it anyways. We already sent it anyways, keep off the streets at night, find these bastards and get rid of them." Fury growled, adjourning the meeting and walking out.

The meetings were getting more and more intense. Tony did his usual sweep on SHIELD security noticing how now almost a third of the base was working on the vampire attacks, covering mistakes and bodies from the general populace. By this rate, the coven didn't even need the blood, they were just doing it to prove a _point._

"Have you ever seen them before?" Tony asked, displaying the video file while Ambrose watched, perched on Tony's bed in his cat form, his two little lackeys as mice running in circles around him.

_"Him in particular? No. His fighting styles are similar to the Myskali, a tribe in Africa."_

Tony didn't seem the least disturbed that his mind whispered to him what exactly the type of yowl the cat gave translated to.

"The same group that use snakes?" Tony asked, eyes narrowing as he froze the frame on the male's face.

_"No. The Serpentis feast on Game Animals, they shy against the blood of mortals. This group…The Myskali, I've heard of them. Their leader, the alpha is a woman, correct?"_

"Small actually, young maybe twenty when she was changed."

_"That describes her. Her name is Eshe, she is spreading her ability, changing those who seem the strongest amongst Africa. She was created long ago, when the Colonies were stealing her kin away. She had thirsted for the Colonies for a while now. It's only assumed that she'd create this mess."_

"The others don't want this?" Tony asked, and the Cat's eyes narrowed and its tail flickered angrily.

_"The others? As far as I can tell, most of us Vampyre just wish to live in peace. The nomads to the North run among the moon and ice, eyes bright and teeth sharp as they hunt the moving arctic deer. The hunters of the South prowl in the rainforests and protect it from curious mortals. The herders of the Scottish Heather move their sheep and their animals with them, enjoying their immortality while the scholars of the East learn from the forgotten arts of what mortals left behind. We do not to wage war; we are just another species, wishing to live our own life."_

Tony swallowed, looking at the recording and feeling a growing sense of dread rise in his throat.

"What's the chance the others, the nomads would fight these…Vampires Eshe created? Even to spite them down and get on with their lives?"

Ambrose shook his head slightly, _"The others do not take kindly to mortal intervention. To expose oneself is an instant death. We have never had one to show our rights. What of you, mortals? You discriminated against Africans long ago. They earned their rights from one with African descent himself. What of us? We have none! The moment we dare let the lights of mortals shine on us, will be the death of all we know and love!"_

Tony paused, and the Cat bowed its head, looking at his paws and not responding.

"What about me?" Tony asked stiffly, causing Ambrose to look up, as well as his two followers.

_"What?"_

"You're spokesperson for the vampires. Someone who is important in mortal world as well as a vampire. Who else has a bigger name then Tony Stark?" Tony stated bitterly.

_"You- no! No, you can NOT expose yourself. I would not allow it- I-"_

"Save it. I'll expose myself, and then you'll get rights." Tony growled, and Ambrose stood up and actually _hissed_ at him.

_"No! The publicity Eshe has exposed for our kind will destroy you! No public opinion will save that fact! There is nothing you can do; there is no publicity that can save you from this!"_

"Well I can't just sit here and watch as people are killed!" Tony stood up, actually shouting at Ambrose.

_"Enough! We are not having this discussion again! Arco, Brigan go." _ He growled, the two mice running off in sync before jumping and shifting into two twin crows and flapping off.

They stared at each other, and after a few seconds, Tony spoke. "I'm not going to let this go."

_"I'm not going to give you the chance to try."_

"You want to test that?" Tony growled, low in his throat before suddenly a large German Shepherd was glaring at the suddenly small looking black cat.

_"You really want to play this game?" _Ambrose snarled, shifting into an odd antler-horned deer thing, causing Tony to blink in surprise for a few seconds.

He shifted also, baring his teeth awkwardly as his ears flickered and he resisted a snort. A horse leering over a deer-thing was just…odd.

A snarl and Tony resisted the urge to back away in fear as he stared down the muzzle of a bony wolf, displaying its fangs proudly.

_RRrrraawRRAWR! _Tony snarled, black pelt shifting into the strong muscular hide of an even larger Mountain Lion, displaying _his _fangs proudly while Ambrose refused to back down.

_"I will pin you to the ground before I let you crawl to the military like a shot dog!"_

_"Funny, you're the one with the bad breath. What's wrong; have no bite behind those big teeth of yours?" _Tony growled, and Ambrose snarled once more, giving one last more withering glare before apparently making a decision and jumping out the window, changing and flapping away.

Tony stared; tail flickering as he watched with his feline eyes as the bird vanished.

_"…Damn it!" _He shrieked, turning and swiping a dinner plate sized paw at a vase, smashing it to the ground.

x-(X)-x

Ambrose stood on the top of a building. It was a large complicated constructed building that mortals bought daily requirements. He had watched the military Tony was part of- SHIELD come and connect security cameras on the perimeter. He _knew_ that they would see him if he landed within twenty feet of the door.

He sighed, looking down at the envelope he crumpled harshly in his fist. He relaxed, and the letter came more into view, showing the regal font he had always used. Apparently, his handwriting had changed into something mortals called calligraphy, or artwork with writing.

"Pathetic." Ambrose muttered, looking at the letter disdainfully as he took a few steps out of the opening of the mall, walking slowly forward until the light of the street lam illuminated his face and his old looking tunic.

He stopped, looking at the camera as he pulled the letter out of his sleeve, turning the envelope to show the regal font clearly, _'To SHIELD' _and set it on the ground, the stationary heavy enough to not blow away in the nonexistent wind as he slowly rose again, looking directly at the camera.

If he hadn't gained attention so far, this surely would.

He grinned, opening his mouth and letting his long fangs slide out, then retracted them before he gave a sigh and walked out of the frame.

Once he was sure he was far enough away, he shifted into a crow, flapping up onto an adjacent building and waited, sitting on the roof.

If Ambrose could think of anything positive, it was the prompt response time that SHIELD displayed.

He watched in slight amusement as the black SUV's pulled up quickly, men jumping out with guns pointing in every direction as the lead, a rather firm looking woman with her hair set in a bun walked out. It didn't take bird eyesight to see the two guns strapped to each side of her as she approached the letter, a few men already sampling it for poison no doubt.

Once they moved aside she grabbed the letter, ripping the letter open and eyes widening in surprise at the writing.

She lifted one hand and the men piled into the car, she watched eyes surveying the nearby allies before sweeping up to spot him on a roof.

He didn't move, simply bowed his head and turned flapping off and into the night.

He saved Tony, so why did he feel so horribly awful?

x-(X)-x

"We have a new lead." Fury spoke, causing the others to sigh and groan, fully expecting another picture of a corpse.

"What is it now? A severed head?" Clint muttered, and Thor frowned at the annoyed tone.

"No, Agent Barton." Fury growled, and Clint looked briefly to Natasha, who said nothing.

"At 3:15 this morning, we saw a vampire." Fury started causing even Bruce to sit up, suddenly interested.

"What, did you get a new lead on their location?" Steve asked, and Fury managed to give himself a small smile.

"Better." He flopped something on the table, an envelope, "A letter of cooperation."

"What?" Steve asked, baffled as he opened the letter, eyebrows shooting up at the calligraphy.

_"Dear SHIELD."_ Steve started, and the others leaned forward in fascination.

_"I am a Child of the Night, a Vampire as your mortal claims name us. There is a little hope that you will not hold my words nor my race against me, but I shall try if you hear me."_

"Great, a vampire philosopher?" Clint snorted, but Thor leaned forward, suddenly in interest.

_"I was created in Italy, during the age of the Renaissance. I know of a woman, who was born in death during the Cold War. I know of a man who was aboard the Titanic when it sunk. We have not been a threat to you, we never intended to be."_

"I can't believe this. We're being told off by a freaking _vampire?"_ Clint cussed, running a hand through his hair.

_"The coven attacking this city is known as the Myskali, led by the alpha female Eshe. They are against the normal nature of the Children of the Night, this territory has already been claimed by another, yet she persists in her advances."_

"Grea-"

"Let Captian Rogers finish, Man of Hawk-Eyes." Thor grumbled, his voice a low rumble in the tense room.

_"She is attempting to attack this land, as revenge for her fallen kin. She was created during the age your people kidnapped hers for manual labor, she intends to reclaim her land."_

"Like hell." Clint muttered again while Bruce frowned.

_"I intend to stop her. The peace between Mortal and Vampire was never stressed before this. I apologize on her behalf, but I am not her. Our kin is not the stories that keep you up at night. I am willing to talk with you. If you so desire, return to the location you found this letter, and I shall fallow your vehicle to your base. If you attempt to shoot me, I shall flee. If you attempt to capture me, I shall flee."_

"He's taking the easy way out." Bruce realized, looking at Fury in surprise.

"He _wants_ to help, but he knows how you work. He's…_willing."_ He realized with a few seconds of thought.

"That's all we're asking, Doctor Banner." Fury nodded, and Natasha leveled her eyes on him.

"It's two O'clock. You have him here at the base." She stated, not a question.

"Yes." Fury responded back, the same tone while Thor inhaled sharply.

"If you would like to know, he is currently a cat." Maria Hill inserted, walking in with a frown as she slid something over to Fury- body ratings no doubt.

"Thanks. Now then Avengers, who would like to meet our resident bloodsucker."

"Never thought you'd be one to quote Twilight." Tony muttered, mind racing as he tried to think of _what the hell is going on?_

"He's in the North interrogation room. We figured that nothing we had would hold him, instead he's at gunpoint. I'm sure not even the human Bat can live through forty bullets in his brain." Fury added completely calm as they approached the said interrogation room, the one way glass working as security cameras were set up easily.

"Shit- _that's_ what we're trying to find? He looks like just another person!" Clint cussed while Steve's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Natasha said nothing but frowned a little more, and Bruce just rubbed his temples.

Fury entered, and the speaker started to project, showing it was on.

_"I thank you for actually cooperating with us. Although, you know you couldn't have hid from us forever."_

_"On the contraire, I find the blood of Polar Bears very exotic." _

It was Ambrose.

_Shit._

_x-(X)-x_

"And that's your game, huh? Running away instead of facing the consequences." Fury questioned, getting rather bold.

Ambrose was actually amused by this; he let it show as he crossed his arms, completely at ease.

"I don't rush into battle headfirst if that is what you are misunderstanding." Ambrose smiled, and Fury narrowed his eyes.

"I don't like your attitude." He snapped, and Ambrose managed another grin.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that per say. Right now I can _smell _the fear on you. One second and your throat could be torn to shreds. The only thing that's keeping me here is my motive." Ambrose added, casually looking at his clean fingernails and picking at the nonexistent dirt.

"Then let's work on your little reason for being here." Fury growled, and at once the playful mood of Ambrose vanished, leaving behind a cold voice and cold intentions.

"Eshe. I want her dead and out of the Colonies- my mistake, _America._" Ambrose added, and Fury crossed his arms, looking at Ambrose with partial amusement.

"And you think we'll just let you walk away _just like that?" _Fury asked, and Ambrose gave a small smile, a mocking one.

"Walk away? No. I know that I'm much more to you than that. A subject of an entire new race? I know that Doctor of yours would kill to get a sample of my venom." He added, leaning at ease in his chair while Fury's eye started twitching.

"Who's to say we won't keep you here against your will?"

"You can't contain me. You can try, but you will fail." Ambrose mused, causing Fury to give a dry smile.

"So we've reached an understanding. You tell us everything you know about blood suckers, and we'll kill that other creeper for you." Fury stuck a hand out while Ambrose threw his head back and _laughed._

"You think you can just knock her _down?_ Oh, you'll need a vampire's teeth to tear the throat from her neck. There's no way to kill a vampire without the help of a vampire."

Fury's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and possible anger. He slammed his fists on the table, but Ambrose did not flinch.

"We have Banner, we have Godamn Stark- what makes you think that you can come and go as you please?" He snarled, obviously trying to intimidate the vampire.

Instead, he smirked, this time letting his fangs slide out, Fury's eyes widening a fraction when he saw them.

"Like I said. You need a vampire, to kill a _vampire."_

x-(X)-x

Eshe snarled from the top of her warehouse ledge.

She looked down; her coven was small but growing quickly.

Already she had two of her ranks bite locals of the city, already infecting the population.

There were Vampires from all over, ones that had been abused or discovered and shunned. They joined from all over, from Russia and Iran, a few staying isolated even in Greenland before joining the cause.

She had a total of twenty three. Twenty Three loyal servants whom had not failed her.

Until _her._

She looked down, glaring and snarling at the little girl who sniffled and trembled.

"Iona." She growled voice rough and hoarse like the game animals she hunted. The girl tightened into an even smaller ball, her black hair blocking her ivory skin and her dark eyes.

"You had _one _task. One, yet you _failed it."_ She hissed, and she looked up, breathing quick and panicked.

"You told me to bite him! I did that- he's one of us!" She cried before screaming as she was backhanded.

"_Silence, _I told you to _tear him down_ from the mortals. I said to _kill him,_ and you spare him!" She hissed, muscles bulging as she dropped to the ground, eyes reptilian slits as she opened her gigantic maw.

"I thought we c-could tear him down! Break down his r-reputation!" She sniffed, eying the sharp teeth with caution.

_"Be proud I feel merciful. You are the one to take the killing blow on Mr. Stark's life. If you should fail again, it will be your head that will decorate his palace. And let him feel pride that the reason for his afterlife has been destroyed!"_

_x-(X)-x_

It was getting closer. He could feel it in his blood and in the air when he managed to slip away for a fly.

It was cold and dark at night, papers pasted to signs all informing the reader to call the police at any sign of a Vampire or an odd acting animal.

It was desolate, it was barren and unnerving. Ambrose's two sidekicks had long since vanished the day Ambrose left the letter- possibly out on a quest, Ambrose's last few wishes maybe.

He flew, over top of the city and up above the skylines, he was making another round when he saw it.

A bright white feathered bird, flying calmly before turning and heading right towards him.

His first thought was that it was the rival coven; he prepared himself to attack but the bird turned, calmly swooping in a loop and circling again.

He looked at it, observing the incredibly odd colour and at once wishing he had Jarvis to analyze it for him. He _knew_ it was a vampire, was the black headed white bird from Africa?

He could risk his luck; he knew this city better than anyone.

_"You, what are you doing here?" _He called, flapping up near the bird so he was sure it heard him.

It turned again lazily, eye on him while it flew a little closer.

_"Oh? So you are a Child of the Night. I was wondering. I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting. My name is Selena, I got word from Arco and Brigan, odd that Ambrose wasn't up for the trip. Where is that Italian fool?" _She asked, tone affectionate as she circled again, and Tony blinked, remembering Ambrose's two followers were named those two unfamiliar names.

_"Ambrose is in government security- sorry for asking this but why exactly are you here?"_

_"Well, his friends said something about a favor being exchanged. They're moving along rather quickly, it's hard to track some herd and some of the nomads, but they're doing okay."_

_"Wait- doing what?" _Tony sighed, horribly confused.

_"You don't know?" _She asked in surprise, almost seeming to laugh at his confusion, _"The word's been spreading. Eshe is here and Eshe will fall. We're rounding up the nomads; if she wants a war then we shall give her one."_

His wings missed a beat, causing him to fall a few feet, Selena following curiously while he regained his flight pattern.

_"A war? Really? Wow…I, well Ambrose wasn't someone to take things only halfway. I'm Tony, Ambrose's recent little task."_

_"Oh? Wasn't sure Ambrose was taking up personal tasks again. Pleasure to meet you Tony. So…this war, I have around…nine of my sisters in the north, well, once word reaches them and their Caribou herd. They take their herd very seriously."_

Tony stared as she continued to fly calmly, and Tony shook his head and the surrealism of it all.

_"O-okay then…Uh…"_

_"If you don't mind, I was told to look around here until I met another vampire, I think that's you. Tell me, does the word Venice mean anything to you?"_

_"That's where Ambrose and I me- aww, he set me up didn't he? Crap, now I have to house fifteen vampires…fine, follow me."_

He soared back to the Avengers tower, landing on his windowsill and looking at the window as it automatically opened.

_"This is my room. Do you have any other form that is less obvious?"_

_"Nay, I was turned in the ice and tundra, my fur and skin is white."_

_"Fan-frickin-tastic…just, stay out of sight. When Ambrose says it's time for way, I guess we're going to battle."_

_"I'm not really in it for the battle, I just want Eshe dead."_

_"Amen, avian sister, amen."_

_"Please, I prefer the term Arctic Avian."_

_x-(X)-x_

Relationships were strained. The killings were increasing, war was getting closer.

Ambrose was getting more freedom within the Helicarrier, now able to roam while wearing a form of a GPS collar, not like it was going to stop him.

When he requested a blood pack from the med centre, which was the only time things got awkward. There wasn't a single not terrified agent in the sick bay when Ambrose politely took the plastic bag, then latched onto it with some form of brutal instinct. He had drained the entire thing dry in only a few moments, his fangs receding with a sharp snap as he licked his lips, smirking at the agents.

One passed out on the floor much to his amusement.

The Avengers were learning to fight the vampires, fire being the main course of destruction. Vampires could heal slashes and gouges, they could heal from disembodiment if they had to, but if the skin was seared, nothing was fixed.

They were concerned over him actually, it was faintly amusing. They thought that because his suit didn't use fire it wouldn't protect him.

He _couldn't _incorporate fire in his suit, it would kill him.

Instead Selena had explained a few things. The Venom in their teeth mixed with sweat glands to make thin near invisible oil. It was the same as fire, any damage done with contact with the oil was permanent. If he ripped the head off of a vampire, they couldn't fix it. The same applied to his other forms.

Oh, he was going to let them _see his claws-_

"_Stark."_ The intercom picked up, and Tony looked around, the HUV lighting up as he saw the picture of Fury on the call.

"Hey! Fury the Pirate, how's life?" He asked false cheer as he looked at the blank faced director.

"_The vampire creep says that those other creeper clan is getting together, they're apparently downtown. Where the hell he got this crap I don't know."_

Cold nothingness sunk into Tony's stomach. "Trust him." He spoke, voice emotionless, Fury looking surprised for a moment.

_"Star-"_

"I know you probably have a huge reason not to trust me or believe him, but for one in your _goddamn life_, listen to me. He's not lying. Contact the others- looks like war is here."

Fury stared hard, before giving the smallest incline of his head and ending the feed.

Tony did a loop, edging back towards the Avenger Tower and looking for the white bird which seemed to always circle above. He found Selena quietly sitting on a railing, and she looked up curiously.

He opened his faceplate, looking at her black eyes and swallowed dryly, "Selena, its Eshe. She's attacking."

The bird sprung into the air, shrieking loudly and quickly, turning and following Tony as he circled away.

Tony found the place easily; it was hard to miss the huge pitch black lion standing on the top of a parking garage with some African lady standing next to it.

"Holy- Jarvis, open a feed with the other Avengers. Send them what I'm seeing."

_"Of course Sir."_

It only took a few seconds before Fury quickly responded simply saying 'They're on their way'.

Tony landed on the street, looking around and feeling awkward. He lifted his repulsors, and looked around, projecting his voice.

"Alright mosquitoes! The game's up- I know you're there! Come on our and fight me like a real ma- _human_ man!"

Tony knew he said something right, or rather something wrong in which caused a few Vampires to lung out from his left.

A repulsor blast caught one and sent him slamming into a wall, the other got to close and lunged on Tony, who gave a swift uppercut instead.

The vampire snarled, jaw slamming shut on the open fangs and shattering the two canines in half.

The vampire shrieked hands going to his mouth as fragments of his fangs fell onto the pavement, causing Tony to lift his eyebrows in surprise.

"Hey guys, you almost here? These vamps pack a punch- oh, if you get the chance, knock their teeth out." Tony grinned, just as a Quinjet hovered over the scene, a missile slamming into one of the charging vampire rhino's, causing it to roar in agony over the attack and fall over, missing the left side of his body.

Steve hit the ground in a roll; Thor landing on Tony's left while Clint and Natasha piloted the Quinjet to land on a nearby parking garage. Bruce awkwardly walked out of the plane and simply looked around with widening eyes.

The vampires were hissing and creeping out of the areas they hid in, scattering over the ground, sitting on rooftops, and in charge of it all was that damn Eshe with her smug Lion buddy.

Tony looked up, seeing Selena circling far above with a large group of different birds not far behind, becoming inconspicuous.

"Stark, Thor, get rid of the ones on the rooftops. Clint, Natasha snipe down any that get near us, we'll take the closer ones. Banner…stay normal until we have to."

"Got it Cap." Clint nodded; loading an arrow with a combustible arrowhead- this was going to be _fun._

_"On the contraire Captain Rogers. I may be off assistance." _ Tony's head turned in surprise as the sound of Ambrose filtered through the com's.

"How did you get this link, Blood Sucker?" Clint growled, and Ambrose laughed slightly.

"_I actually hitched a ride on your jet. A nice piece of machinery. Now, my friends tell me that my plea was answered. I believe you have…thirteen vampires willing to fight on your side. Not including I, or my companions."_

There was silence until Tony spoke up, "Thirteen Cap, that's a load of help."

"He might we working against us." Natasha spoke, guns trailing on every hissing body below.

_"But I'm not. Of course, you won't believe me, but I know someone who will." _Ambrose smirked, and Tony felt bile in his throat.

_'This is it.' _He thought cursing, looking up at the birds with a feeling of dread. _'This is the way it ends.'_

"We don't have time for your crap Vam-"

"He's safe guys." Tony spoke, feeling numb as he said that.

_"Yes, see? I'm clean? I will help you."_

"Stark what the _hell_ are you talking about?" Natasha snarled into the feed.

"He's- he's _fine._ I mean it. He could have hurt us before, it's not like Avenger's Tower is a secret or something, he could have snuck in and gotten us long before." Tony stated, and he paused, thinking about what to say. "He helped me in Venice before."

"What the _hell?_ You're _friends with him?"_

_"Among other things, Agent Barton. Now if you don't mind, I'll bring in my friends."_

At once the birds dove, landing in various areas, scattered across rooftops also, before they shifted into their attack forms. Countless Polar Bears and Grizzly Bears roared from the rooftops while even a few Snow Leopards yowled loudly against the other shifting Leopards, Rhino's, and one elephant on the ground.

"Holy Shit. It's like a zoo here." Clint gasped, and Tony spotted Ambrose step out of the Quinjet, looking around before spotting Tony and flying over.

He landed next to Tony, and looked at Steve with a lifted eyebrow, causing the Captain to give a jerk of a nod.

Ambrose gave a slight nod, looking towards the opposing force while Steve jumped on a nearby car, lifting one hand to attempt to magnify his voice.

"Eshe! We're giving you this one chance! This country does not belong to you! This is America and we are free people! Turn back now and go back to Africa and we won't be forced to fight you!" Steve shouted.

It was silent while everyone shifted, slightly more unnerved as they waited for a response.

A roar of a Lion in a voice only Vampires could hear. _"I am Neva! Eshe's second in command! We shall not turn back! This is our land and we shall take it!" _He roared, and Ambrose let out a sigh.

"What did she say?" Steve asked, looking at Ambrose who didn't turn his head towards him.

"It was her second in command Neva. She is resisting, and will not back down. We are fighting." Ambrose sighed, and turned to Steve and gave a fanged grin.

"….We fight." Thor stated calmly, looking at Steve, who looked forward and gave a slight nod,

Ambrose shifted into his wolf, scrawny and bony as he lifted his head and howled loudly.

_"Attack!"_

The animals charged, hissing and biting as suddenly fire exploded in the air from one of Clint's arrow. Tony lifted to the air, Vulchers shrieking as suddenly two were after him, he punched them, swinging them around as they slammed into a building.

"Stark! You got one on your back!" Steve shouted, Tony rotating as suddenly a strike of lightning hit the bird, bursting it into flames as it fell to the ground quickly.

_"No!" _He turned, seeing a Polar Bear groaning before collapsing, head decapitated, and not coming back.

He felt sick seeing the sight but carried on.

"Thor! Two on your back!"

"Thank you Sir Clint." _BAM_ another strike of lightning.

_"Selena! Your backside! You have three, roll!"_

_"Ambrose! Regroup, we need to gain ground." _Ambrose called, spinning in a barrel roll as he flew towards Selena's location.

"This is freaking insane!" Tony cussed, shooting Repulsor blasts, but they just kept coming.

"You're telling me- they won't stay down from guns!" Natasha cursed a green blur as the Hulk joined the fray.

"Does this remind you all of the invasion a few years back?" Steve asked, breathlessly panting as he fended two off of his backside.

"Oh yeah! Good times, we're missing the shwarma though." Tony added with a smirk as suddenly something fast slammed into him, causing him to slam into the ground.

"Tony! You have a Rhino on your back! I got it-" Clint stated, pulling back a flaming arrow.

"No! Shit you idiot! That'll burn me too!" Tony shouted, moving and attempting to lift the Rhino.

The weight vanished and a snarling Vampire was in his face. Before Tony was actually aware of what the vampire was _doing,_ his faceplate was ripped off and teeth buried in his neck.

"Ah! Shit-" Tony gagged, the vampire trying to twist and rip out Tony's throat.

"Cap! A Vampire's got Tony! He's biting him- Get him _off!" _Clint shouted, almost screamed really. A green blur and the vampire was thrown away like a rag doll, Tony gasping and struggling for the not really needed air as he sat up, sliding back until his back was against a wall.

"Clint? Where's Tony?"

"Stay away Steve, it got him! A vampire got Tony in his neck!" Clint gasped, and Tony closed his eyes trying to ignore it.

Ambrose was next to him, looking at Tony with obvious concern.

"Amico? You alright?" He looked at Tony's ravaged neck and gave a sympathetic wince.

"Up Amico, I doubt you can still fight in that contraption of your- _oh."_ Ambrose looked over his shoulder at the new Vampire.

"What the-_you." _Tony gasped, eyes widening as he recognized the young girl, the black hair and more importantly the fangs.

"Stark! There's another one in front of you!"

"Jarvis, deactivate the microphone and detach." Tony grunted, the suit falling apart as he was lifted to his feet gently.

The girl took a step back before suddenly she was gone, replaced by a long clawed European Badger.

"Who is that, Tony?" Ambrose asked quietly, sensing the tension.

"That's the damn girl _who bit me!" _He hissed, lunging forward and landing on four legs, roaring loudly and utterly terrifyingly.

Tony the Mountain Lion was ready to _play._

x-(X)-x

Clint watched, arrow pointed and ready towards the large black Rhino that was currently on top of Tony. His eyes widened in surprise as he held his breath, one eye closed as he readied for his shot.

"Tony! You have a Rhino on your back! I got it-" He added, letting out his breath slowly.

"No! Shit you idiot! That'll burn me too!" Tony shouted through the com's, causing Clint to hesitate, looking around for anyone nearby that could help him.

The Rhino vanished in smoke; suddenly an African male was _on_ Tony, grabbing the Faceplate off of the red and gold clad figure.

"Ah! Shit-" He heard from the link before the Vampire _bit_ Tony's neck-

"Cap! A Vampire's got Tony! He's biting him- Get him _off!" _Clint screamed, looking at Steve who was by far the closest to Tony. '_Get to him! Goddamn it- Stark's DYING'._

The Hulk swung down from another building, grabbing the Vampire and hurling him into a wall, then lunging after him.

"Clint? Where's Tony?" Steve asked, looking around from his location- a tipped car was blocking his view. Tony slid back, one hand at his throat where he was no doubt bleeding.

"Stay away Steve, it got him! A vampire got Tony in his neck." Clint warned, seeing Steve getting closer to Tony's location. Did Vampires turn that fast? Was Tony already infected?

Ambrose appeared and Clint resisted the urge to bury his back with flaming arrows.

"Stark! There's another one in front of you!" Clint warned, seeing a crow appear and change into a young girl.

"Jarvis, deactivate the microphone and detach." Tony stated coldly, and the suit receded, suddenly, _there was nothing._

Ambrose lifted Tony up, looking at the little girl almost confused while Tony seemed to glare at her, stumbling to his feet.

The girl appeared as a Badger (Clint almost laughed at it to be honest), and he leveled an arrow.

Then _Tony_ lunged, appearing as a jet black _Cougar._

"Shit- Guys…Guys…" Clint gasped in horror, fingers numb as he lost his target, watching the two animals circle each other.

"What is it?" He heard Steve ask, momentarily pausing to look for a target.

"You- guys…Tony's been compromised." He swallowed while the line went dead quiet.

"…Are you sure, Clint Bartonson?" Thor grumbled, and Clint nodded, watching the two.

"I- he's one of them. They got him and they freaking bit him." He added and swallowed heavily, spotting another vampire getting dangerously close to the two animals. A fire arrow dug into its way into the Vulcher's breast, causing it to slam into the ground in an inferno of flames.

Ambrose looked up, eyes locking with Clint before giving a small smile of thanks, before he lunged and bounded off as a wolf, running quickly and lunging onto the back of an enraged Rhino.

The Cougar and the Badger lunged, the sounds of the Cougar snarling was loud enough to make Clint shiver.

"Are you _positive_ that he's one of them?" Natasha asked after the silence ran on.

"Did you just hear that Cougar? That was him." Clint muttered, drawing back a flame arrow and unsure where to point it.

"….Shoot him." Natasha added slightly mournfully, causing Clint to look in her direction in surprise.

"What?"

"We aren't going to shoot Tony!" Steve shouted into his mic, causing the silence once more.

"Dirrector Fury assigned me to take out the Vampire once we finished the battle. All vampires are to be eliminated." Natasha added coldly, and Clint shook his head.

"I- I don't _care_ what Fury wanted you to do. You are _not_ killing Tony. " Steve ordered and Thor finally spoke up.

"I do not understand, Clint Bartonson. It takes many nights for a Draugr to turn one into another. The Man of Iron must have been bitten long before if he is able to change his form." Thor grumbled, and Clint froze.

"I- Tony won." Clint blinked, the Cougar ripping the head viciously off of the badger as if he had just won something fantastic. He reared back, yowling loudly as his eyes met Clint's and he pulled the arrow back again, hesitating.

"Was that him?" Steve asked quietly, and Clint said nothing.

He held the bow string tense, fire licking at the arrowhead while Tony waited, knowing that Clint could very well kill him.

Clint slackened the string, lowering the bow and Tony bowed his head, turning and bounding off like he had used that body countless times before.

He probably had.

x-(X)-x

Tony jumped over a tipped car, avoiding the indents in the ground as he bounded along, tail stiff and straight as it followed after him.

So far, most of the vampire's had been dealt with, not without casualties on their own side. More then half of the Vampires that had come by Selena's call had perished, the mentioned Vampire was standing n a rooftop, looking around in her original humanoid form. Her light blue eyes and her incredibly blonde hair as she searched.

_"All is clear on the West side, as is the North as Arco and Brigan say. Selena?" _Ambrose called loudly, flying overhead while Selena shifted back into her polar bear form.

_"I see nothing. I daresay that Eshe and her second are waiting for us, trying to bring us into a trap." _Selena added, and Tony looked around, not pausing.

_"Probably, freaking African crazy doesn't know when to stop. Ambrose, can you tell the others about this? I don't want to get shot."_

_"Of course." _Ambrose cried back flapping over to Steve and shifting as his feet, narrowly dodging a spinning shield.

"Sorry, thought you were one of the enemies." Steve apologized, catching his shield as it bounced back.

"Understandable. Eshe and her second are yet to be found, we think she's hiding. Selena-"

"Selena?" Steve asked with a frown while Ambrose pointed to the regal looking Polar Bear on top of a building.

"She's leading a group into the warehouse to the North. We only have seven of us remaining, any help you have would be of much assistance." Ambrose nodded while Steve gave a curt nod.

"Clint, you and Natasha take the Fish Hatchery to the East. Thor, you find Bruce and lead him towards the parking complex to the West. I'll take South with…Ambrose, and whomever he leads." Steve stated into the com, moving towards Ambrose but he shook his head.

"One moment, I will call our companions." He grinned, the body of a crow before he cried out loudly and confusingly to Steve's ears.

_"Tony, we're going South. Steve is by our side, so I think it best for you to stay in your forms. Do you have an idea as for how he shall travel?"_

_"I got it covered." _Tony called back, leaping over a car and trotting to a stop in front of Steve, snorting slightly.

He flicked his head, black hair flying as he awkwardly hunched, almost Steve to use Tony's front leg to boost himself up onto Tony's black back.

_"Although I've never actually worn a saddle, I don't think you're going to like this." _Tony apologized as he raised, the stallion starting in a brisk walk while Steve awkwardly clung on to Tony's hair.

"Okay, uh, sorry if I pull too hard." Steve apologized while Ambrose laughed.

_"Tell him he Damn better not." _ Tony snarked to Ambrose, who grinned.

"He says that he'd request that you not." Ambrose laughed before turning himself into his battle form of the wolf.

_"This way perhaps?" _Ambrose asked, starting to walk in a general direction.

_"No, do you think she'd go for the docks further south? A lot of fishing boats are down there." _Tony offered while Ambrose thought.

_"Perhaps. Her second in command possesses a Great White Shark, maybe they plan to use that. What is your aquatic form?" _

Tony winced as they set off into a run, Tony turning into a gallop while Ambrose ran alongside.

_"Uh…Actually, it's a dolphin." _Tony stated awkwardly. Ambrose laughed, snorting loudly which caused Steve to look at him funny.

_"A dolphin? Why, I expected you to be some form of a shark. A dolphin isn't bad, per say. I myself am an Orca, a killer whale."_

_"I thought Killer Whales only lived in Oceans, like the Arctic and the Pacific."_

_"Killer Whales have been spotted in my homeland. Rare, but they wonder in on occasion."_

Tony snorted, seeing a tall mast of one of the sailboats and the quickly growing smell of fish and fish guts.

_"So, a Dolphin vs. a Great White Shark." _ Tony groaned, slightly in a scowl as Ambrose frowned.

_"You'd be surprised. The gills on a Shark are weak, a solid slam and he'd suffocate. But Eshe's form is what concerns me. I have no idea what she possesses. It may be a Hippopotamus, or a Crocodile. Perhaps another shark or even a Jellyfish."_

"I think I saw something!" Steve shouted, pointing towards one of the docks on Tony's left, causing Tony to rear and turn that way.

Ambrose gave a huff of thanks and Steve nodded, Tony moving faster as his gallop sounded loudly on the ground, he skidded to a stop, Steve flipping off and waiting with his shield ready.

_"Come out Eshe, and we won't kill you." _Ambrose warned with a snarl.

A loud roar of a lion was heard instead, and at once Tony shifted into a dog, snarling and bearing his teeth.

Ambrose shifted back, looking at Steve and shaking his head, causing Steve to take a deep breath.

"Can you contact the others, reinforcements?" Steve stated to Tony, more an order then anything. Tony almost laughed at the commanding tone his took, but obeyed, throwing his head back and doing what modern domesticated animals still had of a howl.

_"Eshe is here!" _He shouted, knowing full well it would have reached them.

"Clint, Thor, Natasha, Eshe's down by the docks." Steve said, hand on his mic. while he let out a deep breath, beginning to walk towards the docks.

Tony inched alongside Steve, sniffing periodically for any increase in the strong smell of Vampire. On Steve's other side.

"…Do you see anything?" Steve asked, but neither the two barked back.

_"Left! Duck!" _ Ambrose barked, Steve spinning while Tony lunged upwards, sinking his German Shepherd teeth into the right wing of a diving Vulcher.

It shrieked in pain, thrashing as it was brought to the ground where Tony shook it.

_"Let me go! Let me go you sick newblood!"_

_"Make me!" _Tony shouted back, instinctively releasing when suddenly a lion was in his face.

_"Shit!" _Tony hissed, backing away while the lion lunged, a shield slamming into the lions face as a Wolf lunged onto the back of the beast, biting and scratching.

_"Get his throat Tony!" _Ambrose shouted around the flesh in his jaws.

Tony lunged upwards; a paw slammed out and got Tony in the ribs, sending him skidding while Steve delivered a round house kick to the Lion's nose, blood pouring out.

Steve moved letting a black stallion deliver a swift kick to the lion's head, a loud crack as the hooves hit the bone just by the cat's ear and shattered it, leaving the lion to roar in pain and throw of Ambrose.

_"He's going for the water!" _Ambrose shouted, and Tony took off in a gallop after.

The lion jumped into the water, vanishing with a long fishy tail as Tony prepared to jump after.

A crocodile broke the water, causing Tony to shout in surprise and stumble back as the teeth nearly clamped on his leg.

_"Shit! Eshe's a crocodile!" _Tony shouted back but Ambrose was already in the water, the dorsal fin of a large black creature vanishing under the surface.

He stumbled back, not exactly sure what to do, but he couldn't just _sit there. _Ambrose couldn't fight a Shark _and_ a crocodile.

"He's under there?" Steve asked, running to the edge of the pier, and pausing before setting his shield down.

Tony shifted back into the dog, snarling at Steve a command that didn't need to be spoken, _"Stay there."_

He looked at the water, before jumping and changing into the dolphin and vanishing under the water.

Under water was surreal, he didn't exactly have ears but instead he could fire off those small electric 'clicks.'

(He learned how to do that after sneaking into a dolphin tank at the downtown zoo. At first the aquatic mammals were terrified of him, a few bubbles later and he was one of their friends.)

_"Ambrose?" _ Tony shouted, firing off the clicks and suddenly 'seeing' a charging Shark.

He dove, swimming fast and quickly maneuvering around the shark, firing off more clicks causing the Shark to twitch in pain.

Perfect, the echolocation hurt him.

Tony fired off an insane amount, getting a detailed 'picture' back with his sonar as he moved away from the charging shark.

He clicked again, finding Ambrose as he slammed hard into the Shark, causing it to roll over as it attempted to bite Ambrose.

Tony charged, clicking rapidly to cause the Shark to be temporarily paralyzed as it flinched again, then his beak slammed into the gills of the behemoth.

Blood flowed quickly from the damaged gills, causing the shark to open its mouth and almost _try_ to breathe through the water. Ambrose struck again, biting deep into the muscle running along the dorsal fin, practically severing the tail as the shark sank, suffocating from the gills and the inability to swim.

_"Let's find Eshe, he's done." _Ambrose gasped, swimming to the surface and breaking it, attempting to get to the shore.

They both transformed, Tony walking out as a soggy horse while Ambrose shifting into some bizarre antelope looking creature, in which Tony could only assume was his 'earth form'.

_"It's called an Ibex." _Ambrose stated, noticing Tony's looks.

_"That is one freaky looking thing. You have horns too? What are you, a goat on steroids?"_

_"I am a proud native animal to the Alps." _Ambrose defended and Tony couldn't help but stare at the horns.

_"You know, I fought an insane Norse god names Loki. I think he stole your horns."_

_"Oh shut up!" _ Ambrose scowled, walking up onto the back.

_"Yeah yeah, I will what-"_ Tony yelped as something grabbed his legs, knocking him back into the water.

_"Tony! Let him go!" _ Ambrose snarled, pawing the ground and tossing his impossibly long horns.

_"No! You ruined all of my plans! You ruined all of them!" _ Eshe snarled, rolling and Tony falling onto his stomach, legs breaking painfully.

Tony turned, jerking free and shifted, a large cougar snarling at the reptilian.

Steve gasped behind him and Tony just kept snarling at the lizard.

_"Tony, they know who you are."_

_"Let them, I'm killing this Godzilla wannabe."_

He lunged, claws scrabbling on the hide of the animal as Eshe spun, snapping her jaws and grazing one of his paws.

_"Tony- let me-"_

_"Stay out of it!" _Tony hissed, growling at the creature again.

He briefly noticed that all of the vampires had gathered only seven not including Selena and Ambrose. The Avengers were no doubt there, and he was pretty sure Bruce had calmed down.

_"You will die, Anthony Stark."_

_"Nope, not this day." _Tony hissed back, lunging onto the back of the crocodile while the beast rolled, snapping while Tony started on some bizarre game of log rolling.

He hissed, back arching as he snapped his teeth down on the thick hide on the back of the croc's neck. The beast going still as it tried to snap him, jaw open and twitching.

_"Not this day!" _Tony repeated, letting go only to bite once more with insane jaw strength of the large cat.

The crocodile below him shifted back into the humanoid form, Tony letting go as she slowly stood up, looking like a raggedy Ann doll from being sewn back together from all of the injuries. Tony waited, eying everyone on the shore but shifted back himself.

He stood there, calf deep in water while he looked at the scraggly African vampire and he glared.

"I want you to leave. I warned you this land was taken. You should have heeded my warning." He growls, and she hissed with her fangs exposed.

He crossed his arms, looking at the water before back at her.

"Go." He barked and she stumbled back, taking a few steps into the water as she shifted into her weary crocodile.

He let out a low breath before he heard the warning, _"Tony!"_ He spun, the jaws of a crocodile about to clamp around his head.

A huge body jumped from the water, slamming into the Crocodile's side and taking it down with a large strong bite to its neck, severing it entirely.

_"I got it Tony. Don't worry." _Selena sighed, looking at him as a Leopard seal and shifting back with a sigh.

It was peaceful, and it was over.

x-(X)-x

Tony walked through SHIELD, Ambrose on his left as SHIELD escorts moved them along.

Tony knew where they were going, the South interrogation room. He didn't object as the doors opened and they were pushed in. He calmly moved towards the two opened seats, taking one calmly while Ambrose collapsed tiredly into the opposite one. He still didn't walk right; some part of his calf had been swallowed by Eshe or maybe her second in command.

Tony relaxed, tapping his fingers in some odd confusing spontaneous order as finally the door opened, in shuffling Fury as the other Avengers no doubt stood behind the one way glass, watching them.

Fury sunk into the seat across from Tony, nodding to his little lackeys who walked in, taking precautions of actually _handcuffing _Tony to his seat. (He tested his vampire strength; he could snap those with a few seconds of tugging).

"Not taking precautions, are we?" Tony asked amused as Ambrose rolled his eyes.

"No, we aren't. I'm going to ask you questions, and you're going to damn well answer them." Fury stated calmly, causing Tony to arch an eyebrow but wait.

"Are you one of those leeches?" Fury asked, and Ambrose mock winced at the title.

"Oh, ouch. We're not one of those slimy aquatic worms. We are the Children of the Night. _Not_ escargot gone wrong." Ambrose corrected while Tony gave a smirking nod.

"Good, now that we're on friendly terms, explain to me right now why I shouldn't torch both of your asses?" Fury barked, and Tony felt the smile slide off his face.

"…You know that I didn't _just_ turn into a vampire." Tony stated, causing Fury to shift his attention back.

"What the hell are you going on about Stark? Or are you even still Stark?" Fury questioned, and Tony felt an odd urge to laugh, probably hysteria.

"Of _course_ I'm still me. You think that just because I have fangs and a hankering for blood takes away _me?"_ He snorted, giving a grin, "Nah, you're out of luck Captain Hook, I'm still my self-obsessed, cocky, arrogant _amazing _self."

Fury's lips twitched and he stood up, moving out of the room while Ambrose lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

"That's it? No more questions or demeaning statements on how our morality has been lost?" Ambrose drawled, and Fury looked at Ambrose calmly.

"I don't need to question you anymore because Stark is still his pain in the ass self," He ignored Tony's indigenous shout, "As long as you don't kill anyone on U.S. ground, I think we can make a deal."

Ambrose smiled, finally not a mean or joking one but an authentic _smile._

"I think we can arrange something."

X-(X)-X

Vampire rights were something similar to Mutant rights. Although Mutants were rare, Vampires were near extinct. Not to mention you couldn't actually _recognize_ a vampire just from a conversation.

With the new lawsuits and so on, countless morons decided to hurt themselves and frame a vampire to try and gain money from the government. Most either made an implant of an entire mouth (False, a vampire only used two fangs) or made two (obviously) fake marks and forgot to reduce their blood amount.

Tony filed a few reports to SHIELD, the basic abilities of Vampires and so on, how much blood was necessary and how often, feeding habits, night habits, and form usage.

It was a pain, but it worked out okay.

The Avengers were okay with him. A small awkward silence until Thor shrugged and acted normal. He had stated that he had once visited the Vanir, and if anything was disturbing it was seeing men with wings acting much _much_ to feminine.

Bruce accepted him, dry sarcasm as they both were now 'monsters'. Clint shrugged and thought it was cool as long as Tony didn't bite him; Steve was just confused as to _how_ Tony actually existed.

It took Natasha quite a while, but eventually she trusted Tony again.

Ambrose himself turned down SHIELDS offer of a job, a representative of the Vampire kind. He just gave a grin and flew off, Arco and Brigan flapping behind as they started south. Ambrose had always wanted to visit Chile.

SHIELD gave them their card, and although he was off exploring like he always wanted, he swore he'd still keep in touch.

Selena traveled back North, resuming her life as a nomad with a few other Vampires, and continued roaming around as Caribou, living the life as a giant Reindeer.

Living as a Vampire…after a while, Tony didn't find it so bad.

Living in a dysfunctional little family, no matter how many times he caught them buying Holy Water and Garlic on Ebay, it was nice.

His own little Coven.

* * *

**Yay! I'm done!**

**IMPORTANT!**

**My next story soon is going to be a sequel to Understanding (People are going to watch IRON MAN 2, not my original plan but that's what people requested.)**

**Now, i NEED HELP.**

**I don't own the movie and i can't find a script online ANYWHERE. If ANYONE is willing to write down the movie and PM it to me, i will write a story JUST for you only. Anything you'd like.**

**Please help!**

**~Oceanbreeze7**


End file.
